Okay, so I was messing around in the workshop the other day, trying to fix up this old kiln. You know, the kind you use to bake pottery and stuff. The bricks inside were all loose and falling apart, and I needed to glue them back together. It was a real mess.
I remembered someone told me there’s this special glue, you know, “kiln glue,” specifically made for this kind of thing. So, I did a little digging and found out that there are actually a few different types. Some are more like cement, and others are more like a paste. It’s all pretty confusing, to be honest.
First, I grabbed the loose bricks and cleaned them up a bit. I tried that special phosphate-bonded cement. Before I slapped on the cement, I dipped each brick in some water just to get the surface all wet. I figured it would help the cement stick better. So, I spread a good amount of cement on the bricks, making sure it was enough to ooze out a little when I pressed them together. This one was a bit messy, and I had to work quickly before it dried. But it seemed to hold the bricks together pretty well.
Then I tried this other stuff, more like a patch, from Axner. It was way easier to use. I just spread it on the broken parts and stuck them back together. I also used some firebrick dust I had lying around to fill in any gaps. It was like spackling a wall, but with fireproof stuff. The patch was perfect for filling in small cracks and reattaching small broken pieces. They said to fire it at Cone 06 to cure it, so I did that. After a couple of hours, the kiln was solid as a rock.
Here’s what I did:
- Cleaned the bricks.
- Tried out special phosphate-bonded cement.
- Dipped the bricks in water before applying the cement.
- Spread enough cement for it to ooze out.
- Pressed the bricks together.
- Used a patch from Axner to glue pieces and fill in cracks.
- Filled gaps with firebrick dust.
- Fired the kiln at Cone 06 to cure the glue.
It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. The kiln is back in working order, and I didn’t have to buy a new one. Who knew fixing a kiln could be such an adventure? But hey, at least I learned something new. I guess you really can fix anything with the right kind of glue.
